This Week’s Apple Rumors, Ranked From Dumbest to Most Plausible

A mockup of what a gold iPhone might look like from iMore's Rene Ritchie. Photo: Courtesy Rene Ritchie

Each week, there are dozens of Apple rumors, reports, and patent filings that hint at what’s coming out of Cupertino next. Some are legit, but most are totally bogus. We parse the week’s rumors for you, ranking them in order from “utterly ridiculous” to “Duh, of course.” First up…

DON’T COUNT ON IT: Flexible Material Could Eliminate MacBook Hinges
Not anytime soon, at least. A recently published patent application from Apple details how it could use a new type of flexible material as an enclosure and hinge for MacBooks. By using this material, Apple would be able to make the size of the notebook smaller. One way this material could exist in the real world is by taking a traditionally rigid material and using a laser to engrave grooves or shave the thickness of the material so that it’s able to bend in at least one direction. This type of flexible material could also be used in earbuds or in Apple’s Smart Case for the iPad, allowing it to roll up, rather than fold, into a stand.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Chinese iPhone Launch Delayed
Due to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s product verification process,
China’s First Financial Daily reports that the launch of Apple’s next iPhone models in the country will be delayed from the first week of October all the way till November 28. With each iteration of the iPhone, Apple has been striving to have a wider and wider multinational launch. But due to regulations in other countries (among other things), the iPhone will often have a staggered launch date as it goes on sale across the world. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has said that the iPhone is seeing major growth in China and that it’s a key market for the company, so I would expect Apple will put as much muscle as possible into pushing up that launch date as near to the U.S. debut as possible. But, some forces are just out of Apple’s control.

ASK AGAIN LATER: Apple Talking With TV Content Providers for Revolutionary Television Project
According to a report from Quartz, Apple is taking a new approach to getting content onto its much rumored television platform: talking directly with content providers, rather than cable companies. Rumors of an Apple-branded television, complete with its own pay-TV service, have been widely circulating since 2011. Getting content to users in a new, easier, “revolutionary” way has reportedly been the key hangup in why Apple hasn’t released this bit of vaporware.

SIGNS POINT TO YES: Nike Fuelband Developer Joins Apple, Working on iWatch
Fitness expert and key developer behind Nike’s fitness products Jay Blahnik defected to Apple. With Jay’s background and experience, it certainly seems like he could be working on some sort of fitness-focused, wearable device. It could be an iWatch. Or maybe it’s something we haven’t dreamed up yet. Or maybe it’s a distant future version of the iPhone. Whatever it is, Blahnik is rumored to be devoting all of his time to it — previously, he was spending about 40 weeks a year doing consulting gigs and speaking at conferences.

WITHOUT A DOUBT: Apple’s Going for the Gold With Its Next iPhone
A flurry of Apple-focused blogs confirmed with their sources that Apple will be debuting a gold version of its next flagship handset. First iMore, then 9to5Mac, then TechCrunch, and finally AllThingsD confirmed that Apple has a gold-colored iPhone in its sights. While I still personally am a bit surprised by the color choice (apparently, it’s more of a champagne-gold than bling-tastic gold-gold), with so many sources and publications confirming its existence, a gold iPhone looks like a done deal.